Living in Silence
by Sumire Kaika
Summary: An 'episodic' retelling of Angel Beats! in the universe of Corpse Party.


**Living in Silence - Chapter I**

It was the dead of the night.

The grass bristled.

The branches trembled.

The zephyrs yawned.

Then it was dawn, the late morning, the early afternoon, the evening, and night again.

The boy with the bleached hair was watching this very cycle.

At that moment, he decided to close his eyes, and the world turned night again.

_Is this it?_

He re-opened them. Gathering from the vague colour of the sky, it was sunrise.

_All that life has to share?_

There was the sound of blaring sirens in the far distance.

It was getting closer.

'_Aah!'_

The girl almost screamed when she saw him awaken.

'Geez, surprise me like that again with my finger on the trigger and you'll be automatically signing your own death warrant!'

Late noon. The sun began to shrivel away from the perpetually visible sky, finding a better habitat than its first.

Someone else was trying to shrivel away from the boy, as well.

'Honestly, Kishinuma, you have no idea how it's like to see a corpse jump at you and scream 'Aah!' in such a _peasantly_, _delinquent_ manner! Shame on you!'

The boy peered round her to see another girl far past the hill standing idly on some grounds, taking the appearance of a school's outdoors. He had no idea how he could manage to see that it was a girl standing there, but then he realised he was looking through a scope.

'What's the business with the fake model, then?' he questioned. He gently took the rifle from where the girl had left it on the grass, flicked it into safety and examined the gun in great detail.

'Dumbass! Does that _look_ like a fake model gun to you?'

'These .50 calibers can easily be replicated just like any other gun.'

The girl shot a glare at him. 'Kishinuma. Go. Away.'

He nodded in reply, albeit hesitantly, and returned the rifle. 'Right.' Before he cleared the slope of the hill, he turned back. 'Er… What's your name? I have a biting feeling telling me that I should know it already, but...'

The girl glared at him. 'Yoshiki...'

Yoshiki staggered back. 'I mean… I didn't...'

'So, you have the same problem too.'

'What?'

She gestured towards what occupied the side of the open-space grounds. It was a fairly large building.

'In the academy, we have someone held as a victim of retrograde amnesia. He's not snarky like you are. You might get along with him.'

Yoshiki narrowed his eyes. 'Whatever. Just tell me your name.'

'Shinozaki.'

'Shinozaki who?

'Shinozaki Ayumi.'

He lowered his head briefly, tapping the side of his cranium. 'Shinozaki… Ayumi...'

'C'mon, move it, you're in my line of si-'

Yoshiki promptly barreled down the hill towards the grounds at a rapid velocity. Ayumi began to call out, but instead shook her head. 'Kishinuma...' she grumbled with a sigh.

Despite his attitude, Yoshiki was very curious about this world.

Even though he had only just awakened, he felt as though he was there for a long time.

Almost like it was eternity…

Crossing the hill, whereupon the hill there was a slightly frustrated but anticipating Ayumi, Yoshiki found himself staring at the back of celestial beauty.

It was a young girl, multiple years younger than Yoshiki himself. _Definitely not my age,_ Yoshiki stated in his thoughts for the sake of wrong assumption and his own personal view of humanity.

She wore a beautiful, small crimson-coloured dress which flowed with every movement of her joints. Her lovely black hair lay on the back of her head, reaching down to her shoulders.

Yoshiki found his breath disappearing from his throat in an instant. He hoped this girl would be a better diversion for conversation than Ayumi was. He could only let out one single croak:

'H-Hello…'

… Before his amazement twisted into tragedy.

It wasn't the same beautiful young girl that Yoshiki was looking at seconds before. As she turned, it was discovered she was the deranged opposite. A tattered gown for clothing accompanied by the most menacing look on the girl's face – Yoshiki now wished that he didn't cross the hill.

The hill was the boundary between a whimsical yet intimidating heaven and a grim, disastrous, traumatising, blood-curdling hell.

'I WANT OUUUT-!' Yoshiki yelled. It was a waste of energy for no-one was going to hear him – even Ayumi was busy listening to the Hysteric Birthday band on her eyePod (which, suffice to say, was literally an eye).

Yoshiki crossed the boundary line again. When he returned to the girl with the sniper rifle, his hands were on his knees, panting for dear life. However, Ayumi paid him little heed.

'If you need some water, it's over there.'

She pointed to the school building. Just by it, Yoshiki could make out a stationary red figure.

'Give me a break…' he managed to say. His lungs went dry.

* * *

The teenager was gasping for air just like he was seconds before. Except he was instead somewhere else.

'Gaah… haaah…'

His face was contorted in an expression of downcast tiredness. He felt similarly to how he did after a day at Kisaragi Academy, or after a bad dream…

'A dream?' He ran a hand through his bleached hair. When he lowered the hand, he glimpsed some red atop it. A stinging sensation ran through his head.

'Aa… Ow…'

He found more blood leaking from his scalp. The wound - whatever it was - felt closed, however. Like it was never there to begin with.

'What happened…?'

He considered the hypothesis that he must have fallen over and hit something. Though, he couldn't help but feel there was a bullet embedded in his skull…

He pulled himself out of the bed. His bed was surprisingly white compared to his usual bed. Why was it so white?

Yoshiki glanced around, taking in his surroundings.

'… Huh?'

It was definitely not his bedroom.

There were windows in odd places, and there were ominous bottles and vials shelved on one side of the room. He tried to think what this place would be, but then…

'An infirmary.' He nodded affirmatively to himself. 'It's an infirmary. A school infirmary, to be exact. It's been a while since I made a visit.' He smiled. A long while.

But then he recoiled. What was he doing in a school's infirmary—_the_ school's infirmary?! Was this the same place Ayumi directed him to?

He recalled the mysterious Shinozaki girl from the hill. How was she? Was she alive?

Yoshiki left through the door. He didn't want to leave through the window to avoid any teachers else he'd be leaving without knowing an explanation. He also needed some time to consider their explanations.

It wasn't unusual that the hallways were quiet. They usually were when Yoshiki was found in the infirmary after school was over, recovering from some chronic injury that wasn't actually so bad. However, Yoshiki remembered that it was noon, and school would still be going on. The corridors were still sunlit, so he didn't have any problem managing to read the sometimes-rusty signs and eventually managing into a room…

His usual classroom.

'Sorry for being late,' he murmured as he crossed over to his familiar seat by the window. 'It just so happened that I was bleeding on the head and was admitted to the infirmary. Heavens if I know what did it.'

'We're working to see if heavens can solve that mystery for you.'

'Huh?' He raised his head from his usual depressed slump. 'What'd you say?'

'I said,' the voice began. A fist slammed into his desk, splitting it in half. Yoshiki looked up to see a murderous look from the class representative: Ayumi. '_You're going to work for the Corpse Party whether you like it or not, y'hear?!'_

Yoshiki did not want to sleep that night.

* * *

When Yoshiki woke up, there was a low continuous sound of ambience around him. It almost reminded him of school. Sitting amidst storms of people, hearing about things he honestly didn't care about…

It was on the brink of nostalgia.

Nostalgia? Yoshiki shook his head. He couldn't label useless drabbles of run-on sentences 'nostalgia'. Nostalgia had a better meaning to it.

Like the everyday alpha-beam-penetrating glare of Shinozaki Ayumi.

'Kishinuma, I want a word with you.'

'Hm?'

'It's about Corpse Party.'

Yoshiki paused. _Corpse Party?_

'Uh… what about it?'

'Let's start from the beginning.' Ayumi gestured someone over. A boy of Yoshiki's age. 'Mochida is in a similar state to you.' With a small, gentle, yet inconspicuously bitter smile, Ayumi gestured towards Kishinuma and back. 'Mochida, this is Kishinuma Yoshiki, a former student at Kisaragi Academy just like you. Kishinuma, this is Mochida Satoshi.'

Yoshiki pulled off a little smile. 'Nice to meet you…'

Mochida, the dark-brown haired boy, smiled back and gave a fragile handshake. Yoshiki felt himself frown. Was he always that weak? Perhaps it was the amnesia…

The three were gathered by Yoshiki's 'familiar' desk. While Satoshi had pulled a chair up to the side, Ayumi was situated directly in front of Yoshiki, making her feel more uneasy and irritated.

'Corpse Party is the prime organisation composed of our student people,' said Ayumi.

Yoshiki burst in. 'Why do you call it 'Corpse Party'?'

Ayumi slammed her fist against the wooden desk again. The state of the tape running down the middle of the desk's surface was worrying.

'Do I have to explain it? Let's take it piece by piece…'

Ayumi cleared her throat.

_Here we go…_ Yoshiki thought with an indifferent expression.

'Corpse Party, like I said, is comprised of students.'

'Students? Just like… uh, us?'

'That's right. Kisaragi Academy's students.'

'Right, right. First, what's the deal with 'Corpse'?'

'It's what it sounds like.'

'What?'

'We're all walking corpses.'

'…' Yoshiki's mind was bubbling. 'You mean to say that we're…'

'Mmhmm.'

'How could you…' He rose from his chair, glaring straight at Ayumi.

'Do you want it proven to you?'

Yoshiki was taken aback. Finally some evidence?

'… Whatever. Make it quick.'

'Okay. Kishinuma, remember that head wound?'

He felt his scalp. 'This?'

'That was from me. Mochida, here—'

'—Wh-What? The revolver? Oh—'

_Bang._

With shaky hands, Mochida cocked the handgun and pulled the trigger.

* * *

'Did I prove it to you?'

Yoshiki's vision was shaky. It was to him almost as though he had a car accident.

His blurry sight cleared to a smugly smiling Ayumi and a worried-looking Satoshi standing beside him in the infirmary.

'S-Sorry… Kishinuma-san… it was… because… Shinozaki-san…'

'Spare me the explanation, Mochida.' Yoshiki rubbed his forehead.

'A-Alright. Sorry, Kishinuma-san…'

The classroom was bustling as always. Yoshiki successfully established that these students were part of the Corpse Party. But what else…

'Now we know what you mean by 'Corpse'. But 'Party'… sounds like part of what a government would label a political massacre.' Yoshiki shrugged. 'It's not a political party, right?'

'It's nothing about politics.'

'Oh.'

'Anyway, let me explain…'

_Here we go again…_

'Do you remember the girl in red?'

'I… sure do.'

'There was once a rumour surrounding her involvement with Kisaragi Academy. You see, this place was once called 'Heavenly Host Elementary School'…'

Heavenly Host? Yoshiki couldn't shake off remembering that… Maybe the memories really were coming together, albeit slowly…

'… A story about the school went around Kisaragi for a while. The girl who 'slipped and cracked her skull open and stood up, laughing hysterically'… That's a simple summary of it.'

Yoshiki tried imagining that a little.

'Anyway, in this place, the _afterlife_, this girl – we call her Akuma – is supposedly the bridge between Kisaragi and Heavenly Host.'

'The bridge?'

'Well… we're working on that. Let's say she's like a robot… programmed to do her dirty work.'

'Huh…'

'Here, I've plotted out my course of action. The first few days we're going to do some scavenging, but later we're going to infiltrate the girl in red's base. House. Home. Residence. Whatever the hell she lives in.'

'Got it.'

'I've told you her story. She's a ghost. She has spirits alike her, but they're weaker. They're her prime victims.'

'Prime victims…'

'Yes, Kishinuma. People who have fallen into the trap of wandering into Heavenly Host Elementary School and suffered for it. She leaks some spirits in transdimensionally, and…' Ayumi gestured outside. 'They're just lifeless souls. But they're followers of Akuma, in a way. They can be a problem to our operations here at Kisaragi.' Ayumi looked up at Yoshiki. 'There'll be no word of rejection from you. You're part of us now.'

'Part of you…'

Yoshiki turned to the window. He started to see a few of the 'spirits' flood in and swarm the edges of the grounds.

'Will we become one of… them?'

'If you give in to Akuma. If you let her take your soul prisoner.'

'The hell…' The girl in red was amongst the wandering revenants. Her steely gaze was fixated upon the school.

'I know she's watching us, Kishinuma. That's why I want you to help us be rid of her. She'll storm the school one day… and…'

'Alright…' Yoshiki reached over and placed a hand on Ayumi's shoulder. 'I'm joining the Corpse Party,' he said with a reassuring smile. Ayumi swung for his hand with a combat knife, but Yoshiki quickly dove out of the window.

* * *

The next day began. Yoshiki worried that re-entering the classroom would mean meeting new people and that would mean meeting people that were skilled at bothering him. Ayumi had stated that they were beginning an operation that day, after all, and everyone would be aware of his presence.

'Good morning,' he mumbled upon entering the classroom. He headed to his usual seat by the window. This time, he failed to notice the splitting of his desk completely.

'Can you be any less oblivious, Kishinuma?!'

'What?'

Ayumi pulled him out of his chair. 'Come over here, I'll introduce you to the Corpse Party.'

'Really…?'

Yoshiki considered that they would be uninteresting, and at the end he assumed he was right. At the front of the classroom were gathered some students, including Satoshi. Along with Satoshi were two other boys and four girls.

'This is Morishige Sakutaro,' Ayumi introduced, alluding to the reclusive-looking dark-haired boy wearing a pair of glasses. He waved at Yoshiki after closing his cell phone with a timid smile, and then re-opened the device. Yoshiki waved back concernedly.

'Over here is Kizami Yuuya. He's one of the more significant upperclassmen, so that's why he's part of our current brigade.' Ayumi gestured to the taller male who held his uniform jacket over his shoulder.

'Nice to meet ya,' he grunted with a boisterously eerie grin.

'Right,' replied Yoshiki lowly, returning the handshake.

'The girls we have here are Nakashima Naomi, Suzumoto Mayu, Mochida Yuka and Mizuhara Satsuki. I'll let you get along with them at your own pace, considering what you're like, Kishinuma.' As Ayumi passed the first girl, Naomi, she pulled an odious smirk at her.

'Yeah, yeah. Yo.' Yoshiki managed another half-hearted wave at the quartet before moving over to Mochida. The latter three girls looked a lot more cheerful than the first.

'Kishinuma-saaaaan!' the last girl squealed, heading over to the left side of the classroom where Yoshiki was. 'Ayumi-chan told me everything about yoooou!'

'Ayumi?' Yoshiki asked with a frown. 'The class rep?'

'Yep!' the girl replied with a joyous nod.

'Right...' There was a brief silence. 'Who are you again?'

She pouted. 'Mizuhara Satsuki, C cup!'

'Huh,' Yoshiki began, rubbing his cheek. 'Is C cup your first name? Nice to meet you, C cup.'

Satsuki rocketed out of the classroom window, following with a gruesome sound of a splat. She returned moments later. 'N-No! That's my cup size! _C… cup!_'

Yoshiki didn't flinch. 'Parents name their children after the oddest things.'

_Crash! Splat._

'Hey, Yuka,' Yoshiki called out to the other younger girl. 'That's your name, right? Yuka?'

The tiny girl, still wearing her elementary school uniform, trotted over to him. 'Mhm. I'm one of the backing members of Hysteric Birthday!'

Yoshiki looked interested. 'Hysteric Birthday… that sounds like it could be terrifying.'

'It's not!' Yuka protested. 'Kishinuma-san, c-can you be the lead guitarist in our band?'

Yoshiki ruffled his hair. 'Don't you already have a lead guitarist?'

Yuka prepared another rebuttal, but stopped. She turned and looked towards the second girl, Suzumoto. 'Oh… yeah, we do...'

Suzumoto noticed Yuka's glance and left a smile and a wave.

'She seems like a nice person,' Yoshiki mused.

Yuka turned back to Yoshiki and nodded. 'Mmhmm. We're looking for more members. Not even onii-chan wanted to help out, but...'

'Onii-chan?' interrupted Yoshiki. 'Ah, your family name is Mochida, isn't it?'

'Yup!' she squeaked. She looked at Satoshi in indication.

'Hmm.' Yoshiki fiddled with his hair. 'The spitting image.'

'Am not!' Yuka squeaked again, tugging at Yoshiki's uniform sleeve frustratedly.

Yoshiki headed over to the girl named Mayu. He took careful note of the pink bobbles to the side of her brown hair, and anticipated the first strike…

'Yo,' greeted Yoshiki.

'Hello~!' she greeted as she spun round, smiling brightly.

'Yuka told me that you're...'

'That's right! I'm Suzumoto Mayu, Hysteric Birthday's lead guitarist and vocalist!'

_Wow… this girl being the guitarist AND the vocalist? That's hardcore._

'That's hardcore.'

'Huh?'

'Oh, uh, never mind.'

…

'So, you're looking for more members, aren't you?' Yoshiki asked with a light frown.

'Uh-huh. No-one we know other than Satsuki-chan and Yuka-chan have any significant musical ability. If they did when they were alive, they probably lost it.' Mayu sighed. 'Not even Shige-nii can use an instrument…'

'Shige-nii?'

'Yeah,' Mayu said, looking to the side. Behind Mayu was a spectacled boy, the same that Yoshiki was earlier introduced to.

'M-My name is Shige-n—u-uh, Morishige Sakutaro. Remember it.' He flashed a creepy grin. Mayu looked at him, and the grin was replaced with an innocent smile. 'B-Because, ahaha, people forget it sometimes! You know what names are like!'

Mayu laughed along with him. 'Ahah, well, we're still looking for members, and we're hoping to find more when we go out on searches. You know, because…'

Yoshiki nodded. 'Because there's a chance humans are still out there among the spirits.'

'Right! You're well-informed, aren't you?' Mayu giggled. 'The spirits wear normal clothes like humans do, and only their skin is transparent. From a distance it's hard to distinguish them from people like us.'

'That's something new. Thanks.'

Mayu smiled affirmatively. 'Gotcha.'

The conversation was halted by the sound of something hitting a desk. The group looked round to see Ayumi holding a ruler, which was in contact with the teacher's table.

'To your seats!'

In a shuffle, everyone gathered to whatever chairs they could sit on. The last to remain standing was Yoshiki, who took his time returning to his usual seat by the window. Ayumi narrowed her eyes at him.

'Now that we're all settled, I'd like to begin the planning for today's operation.'

'What's it going to be, Ayumi-chan?'

'Please stay quiet, Mizuhara. Please name me accordingly to my role while you're at it.'

'Sorry, Ayumi-chan…'

'Now!' The ruler connected with the desk a second time. Yoshiki was surprised to see neither the ruler nor the desk break. 'I'd like to welcome someone formally. Corpse Party, please welcome: Kishinuma Yoshiki!'

…

There was a warm silence.

Outside, the birds chirped, a branch fell and hit an unsuspecting spirit, the zephyrs yawned and scared away an undead cat, and the sun shone ever so brightly…

…

'Kishinuma?'

'I'm fine, thanks.'

Ayumi looked at him for a good minute. It wasn't a stare or a glare he gave him, just a calm look of curiosity and interest. She almost felt like a nice, innocent girl, that even Yoshiki could spend his entire school life with—

'YOOOSHIIIKIIII-!'

The ruler that Ayumi used whipped up such a tornado that sent Yoshiki through the window and onto the school grounds face-first yet again. This time the window was initially open.

When Yoshiki returned to the classroom, it looked as though it was a normal school day during a late summer. Everyone was at their desks, scribbling at things like notebooks and over blank sheets of paper and speaking to one another, making a low humming sound buzz around the room. Yoshiki was still fond of that sound, even if it troubled him to no end with the reminder that he was in school. He walked over to his desk, and as he was about to sit, the desk separated in two.

'It's work day, Kishinuma.'

'Work day? I have to work even when I'm dead?'

Ayumi gestured with her head towards the front of the classroom. 'You're with the mapping team. Get to it.'

Yoshiki sighed, leaving the corpse of his desk to rest in silence. 'Roger, roger.'

Among the mapping team were…

'Just me,' said Sakutaro with a sheepish grin, pushing up his glasses for effect.

'Morishige?' Yoshiki enquired out of surprise. 'I'd expect someone like you to be with the cyber-hacking team, or something.'

'H-Hey, what sort of joke is that?!'

Yoshiki looked at the cyber-hacking team, which was an actual team, and saw the members as Naomi and Yuuya. 'Why are they on that team…?'

'Oh, ahaha. We don't need the cyber-hacking team for this operation.'

'I can almost sympathise. But I can do better empathising, because the idea of doing nothing appeals a lot to me.'

For Yoshiki, mapping the whole school area was an arduous effort. To begin every operation, Corpse Party had the maps updated mainly to keep the spirit move routes in check along with Akuma's usual location. It was made easier for Yoshiki, however, as he had the binoculars and Sakutaro had the pencil and paper up in the school classroom. Well, it wasn't exactly _easier_ – the circumstances of how it worked out were different. But mapping onto paper needed imagination – Yoshiki believed he didn't have much. As a result, his case was settled, and he took the role of the main scout.

'Kishinuma-san, the cafeteria outside of Kisaragi to the western side is currently our main objective,' Sakutaro spoke through the transceiver. 'We intend to… have dinner there.'

'So? Why don't you just head in?'

'Well…' Sakutaro paused. 'That's not so easy. We require 'meal tickets'.'

'Are you saying that currency doesn't exist here?'

'Quite right.'

Yoshiki squinted through the binoculars from where he crouched at the right side of the building. As per usual, there were spirits wandering around the grounds almost omnipresently.

'There's a whole bunch of these spirits, by the way.'

'Yeah, yeah. Ayumi-san said that this time at rush hour would be the best time of the day to scout, because…'

'Because it's lunchtime. Right now.'

Sakutaro cleared his throat. 'I know. We'll get something eventually, Kishinuma-san. Don't fret on the operation.'

'Roger, commander.'

'D-Don't call me that!'

Yoshiki gave detail to Sakutaro for the rest of the lunchtime's duration and retreated before the sky began to darken. It didn't darken for the sake of denoting its proximity to night time – it did so to denote that it would be followed by the almost-silent patter of rain.

Ayumi didn't look at the rain very happily, but Yoshiki looked at it with a dim smile.

'More rain: less work,' mused Yoshiki.

'You're still going to work inside, Kishinuma.'

'Damn it.'

He stretched his arms and let out a yawn. 'Honestly, feeding detail after detail over the radio while looking through binoculars and being sure not to be seen by the girl in red is a _really_ tiring job.'

'You're just slacking off, Kishinuma.' Ayumi stared out of the window without looking at Yoshiki, resting her chin on her palm. 'We're fighting for a future, you know. Don't you want to ever fight for a future?'

'A future? Huh. I never thought that repetitive work led to a _future_, of all things...'

'Gaah… just shut up.'

Yoshiki nodded, feeling like he made a point.

Still in the mapping team, Yoshiki helped discuss move routes regarding the spirits on the school grounds with Sakutaro, taking deep breaths whenever Sakutaro was inclined to run off his tongue and speak in the most complex way possible. Yoshiki slowly began to get used to it.

When Sakutaro went off into long dialogues, Yoshiki observed around him and saw the cyber-hacking team, the assault team and the research team. Ayumi informed Yoshiki that the cyber-hacking team was linked to the research team, and the mapping team was linked to the assault team.

'Since the cyber-hacking team is linked to the research team, in this operation…' Yoshiki had said. '… Neither team would mean anything?'

'Corpse Party, I admit, works under a confusing process, Kishinuma. But let me tell you: if one team is down, its link can continue working in its place. That also refers to…' Ayumi held in a breath. '… Death. If you see someone part of the Corpse Party die right in front of you…'

Yoshiki waited for her last words without a single twitch or cringe.

'… Don't hesitate to ignore their felling completely. Even if they do come back in the end, just don't… don't break down on the battlefield. Work your way through the operation as though they weren't there to begin with.'

There was a deep, painful silence. The speed and intensity of the rain started to wilt and fail significantly.

'I'll get used to it, Shinozaki.'

Ayumi for once felt herself brighten up. She straightened her dark blue hair and raised herself. 'Right. Great.' She walked to the classroom door. Ayumi turned back to Yoshiki, who was staring at a point above Sakutaro's head. She then left the classroom.

'Huh? Did you scare her away, Kishinuma-san?'

The mapping team had almost wrapped up. The assault team began to take priority on the mission, putting together their firearms that they previously collected and allocated the weapons to each member participating in the final assault.

'That's not it. It was by her choice.'

'Huh… You're going in the final assault team, aren't you, Kishinuma-san?'

'I am?' Yoshiki looked at the Colt .45 handgun he was rolling around in his palm. He recalled Ayumi's words. _The battlefield._ 'I am.'

'Well, good luck.'

'What are you going to do, Morishige?'

'Um…' Sakutaro adjusted his glasses. 'I'll scout. For you guys.'

'For us?' Yoshiki looked up at Sakutaro. He placed his hand on the other boy's shoulder. 'Thanks,' he said with a small half-smile. Even if it was just a tiny job, Yoshiki was glad the glasses-wearing student wasn't getting lucky by slacking off.

'For this operation, we will be using the _final assault team_, as you would already know.' Outside the classroom, in one of Kisaragi Academy's hallways, the 'soldier' students were lined up side-by-side before Shinozaki Ayumi. Yoshiki thought she almost looked like a true commander.

'That is: you'll be fighting Akuma and her group of peons. Well, calling them peons would be disrespectful, but… that's what they've chosen – to work alongside the devil.'

Among the fighters were Yoshiki, Satoshi, Yuuya, Naomi and of course Ayumi to lead.

Glaring at Naomi, Ayumi continued, 'I want no-one's prowess to weaken and puncture during our fight for triumph. Got that?' Naomi, beginning to break a sweat, nodded rapidly for a second. 'Right. Mochida!' Satoshi jumped at the sight of a ruler flung right at the wall behind him. 'You're going to be in my squad. Kishinuma, you too. Nakashima and Kizami will be composed of the support squad. Got that, you two?' Naomi nodded rapidly. Yuuya snapped out of his slumber. 'Right. Mochida, Kishinuma, follow me. Kizami, Nakashima, follow behind from a distance. You have your transceivers, so you know we're keeping in contact.'

'Oh—okay,' said Naomi, wiping her forehead exhaustedly with her uniform sleeve. Yuuya meanwhile held back a yawn.

When they stood in the school courtyard, Yoshiki slowly placed an ammunition clip in his pistol and cocked it.

'Akuma uses spiritual power to defend herself against hostiles.'

Yoshiki noticed Satoshi's readied aim start to tremble. He patted him on the shoulder.

'That means she can throw anything if not everything at us. We fear she may be omnipotent.'

Satoshi shuddered at Yoshiki's contact. 'Wh-What?'

'But omnipotent or not, we can break through… We'll void Akuma from this world and we'll make those victims of her flee into the free of daylight. For the better good.'

Yoshiki squinted at him. 'Your arms. They're trembling.'

'As the Corpse Party, we shall reign and let those corpses sleep in peace! Let's unite, fellow Kisaragi students!'

'O-Oh, right…' Satoshi fumbled around, finding another offensive stance to take upon. He wielded a combat knife, smaller than the one Ayumi was holding, and held it horizontally just under his shooting arm. 'That better?'

Ayumi stopped, lowering her gun. They stood in the open field of the school grounds, far ahead of them being the lone-standing cafeteria slowly being swarmed by spirits. 'Now that we've cleared up the dramatic speeches, we know what we're up against. The plan is as follows:

'The attack team, which is Kishinuma, Mochida and I, will be providing cover fire against Akuma. The support team will do what their status tells them to – support in general. Call back-up students if things get worse and worse, and call upon an all-out force if things reach their limit.' Ayumi stopped to let out an anxious sigh. 'No way in Hell nor Heaven will they bring out _those_ spirits…' She coughed, covering her tracks. 'Well, the support knows what they're doing, so move it!'

Naomi and Yuuya, upon instinct, ran backwards across the grounds, pulling out binoculars.

_Those guys are going to do nothing but tell each other their biographies and sleep,_ Yoshiki thought with a furrowed brow.

* * *

Satsuki swung her foot upwards in the air. 'What song are we playing today?'

Mayu shook her head. 'I don't know, let me take a look.'

The band members stood atop the stage in the assembly hall, either walking around or standing by their preferred instruments.

Satsuki's foot swung up to 90 degrees backwards, imitating a swinging pendulum. 'Gee, Mayu-chan, if it's another difficult song like last time, I might faint again.'

'Nuh-uh,' Mayu cut in. 'Yuka-chan did that song very well, and she's smaller than you.'

Yuka jumped angrily. 'D-Don't call me small!'

Mayu laughed shakily. 'S-… Sorry, Yuka-chan. I was just… being objective.'

Yuka stared for a few more seconds, and then pouted. 'Your silly self isn't like you, Suzumoto-san.'

'Aah, just call me Mayu. Riiight, I'm looking through the list of songs we have, and…'

Satsuki's foot stopped. 'Did you find a good song?'

'Well, there's one… next to it in small brackets it says… _hebii metaru_…'

'Heavy metal! That's the phrase I was looking for! I'm not good at banging my head against the air like that!'

'Y-You don't have to bang your head all the time…'

'To stay true to the genre, I will-!'

Mayu sighed. 'Come now, let's see something else… Ayumi-chan said it always has to be a song that's _loud_ and… uhh… _ear-catching_…'

Satsuki folded her arms. 'That's just plain cruel.'

'I'll find a rock song. Look, here's… _Pandora no Yoru_!' Mayu read through the pages interestedly.

'My drumming hands aren't that great…'

'I want to meet who wrote this song…'

'My head-banging skills aren't great either…'

'Okay!' Mayu puffed out her chest. 'Pandora no Yoru it is!'

Yuka turned to Mayu. 'S-Suzumoto-san, may I…?'

'Oh, sure, Yuka-chan.' Mayu headed over and handed the book over to her. 'Practice nice and easily, okay? It's a duet, but you can help with the backing vocals instead.'

'A-Alright.'

'We're also running out of time!' Mayu clapped her hands with a bright smile. 'Hysteric Birthday, let's get to it~!'

* * *

Yoshiki glanced at the main building. He could see the slight glare of the spotlight that was fixated upon the hall's stage. 'What's the point of Hysteric Birthday, anyway?'

The group ran across the grounds, making it to a fairly long bridge-like pathway that led to the cafeteria building.

'It's a band, Kishinuma,' said Ayumi. 'Bands are loud, and they attract attention very well.'

'Your point?'

'We've set up some propeller fans on two opposite sides of the assembly hall just inside the main building,' Ayumi explained. 'That's where Hysteric Birthday is playing. What the band will do is play loud and attractively enough. The spirits would be called over there by the 'attractive' sound waves, given that the band's performance does not falter.'

'I think I'm getting the idea.' Yoshiki rubbed his nape with his free hand. 'What're the fans for?'

'Even in death, the dead are hungry.' Ayumi smiled to herself, looking down at her growling stomach. 'Much like us.'

'Ah…' Yoshiki backtracked in his memory a little. 'Meal tickets. I'm looking forward to getting a good one.'

'M-Me too,' said Satoshi, beginning to tremble.

Ayumi noticed the constant tremors from him. 'SNAP OUT OF IT, MOCHI—…' she began, but halted immediately. 'S-Sorry. M-Mochida, just stay with me… you'll be safe, o-okay?' Ayumi tried to be reassuring, Yoshiki noticed, but she appeared to be struggling to a great extent. _How worrying,_ thought Yoshiki.

'So, the fans are going to whip up the tickets from the spirits using air?'

'Yes. Some of our other members will open up a vent when the opportunity rises and the tickets will fly outside towards this area of the grounds where we'll be normally situated.'

'To secure all of them. Gotcha.'

'Why did you even want to know how it works, Kishinuma?'

'I, uh…' Yoshiki rubbed his cheek. 'It doesn't matter, really.'

Ayumi groaned at him. 'Well, the more you know. Plus, I'd get bored without anyone to talk to.' She narrowed her eyes. 'As in, to talk _to_, not to be talked _at_.'

'You're good at dehumanising me as ever, Shinozaki.'

'Was that supposed to be a compliment?!'

Sounds from the main building began to arise as the three assault units perched themselves at vantage points from the base of the pathway. Hastily, Ayumi grasped her binoculars from her waist and peered round to the hall window. She paused for a second, flashed a thumbs up sign at where she was observing, and let go of her binoculars. 'Show's starting! If you're running low, I'll pass you spare rounds – now, get ready!'

_BOOM!_

The loud sound of thunder began to approach. Every time the sound took a step forward, the clouds and the sky dimmed a darker grey like that of a pulsing motion. The pulse became more and more intense as the thunder became louder.

'What's that sound, Shinozaki-?!' called out Yoshiki, lying slightly prone towards the center of the bridge facing towards the dining area.

'It's…'

_BOOM!_

Yoshiki felt a creepy sensation of anticipation crawl up his spine.

'It's…!'

_BOOM!_

A sound began to squeeze its way into his head. A tiny sound at first, but as it intensified, it became clear it was a painful, shrill ringing sound. Yoshiki fell straight onto his knees, hands gripping the asphalt.

'Sh-She's testing you! Put your fingers in your ears and close your eyes and you'll resist—'

_BOOM!_

_RIIIIIIIIING!_

There was nothing but the sound of thunder and an early morning alarm clock in his ears.

…

_RIIIIIIIING!_

'Urgh…'

It was another rose-coloured morning. Another start to a boring term at Kisaragi, in fact. Kishinuma Yoshiki pulled the covers away, sitting up and stretching his arms. The bedside alarm clock continued to sound, and Yoshiki fiddled with it in the usual way to make it stop. However, the alarm clock fought against Yoshiki's wishes.

'Stupid thing…' Yoshiki flung the clock at the window, which opened autonomously and let the alarm clock fall out. He failed to notice that, however, and as a result he failed to notice the ringing of the clock still vivid in his mind.

He got out of bed, standing up in a daze and examining the world around him. Another rose-coloured morning.

'Well, I guess I'll be able to see Satoshi, Nakashima, Shinohara, and the rest of the group again…' He ran through his hair several times in the mirror. His hair bangs stayed the same – blatantly shaped like a lightning bolt. 'Huh…' He shrugged it off. Thinking of a way to start off the school day, he headed over the window to establish.

'… Wha-…?'

However, the window didn't display what it usually liked to display. A very, very dark sky… and what was imprinted crystal clear on the surface of the window's glass was the face of death.

…

Yoshiki couldn't shake off the mental image of that face when he was snapped awake thanks to the petrified Satoshi towering over him.

'K-Kishinuma-san!'

He slowly opened his eyes, albeit painfully and mechanically. 'Sa… to… shi…? Huh… I didn't think you of all people would be one of my better friends…'

'Wh-What are you talking about, Kishinuma-san?! I can't let her take you now! You're one of us: a living corpse among the Corpse Party!'

Yoshiki groaned, slowly sitting up. The sky was the usual colour, growing gradually dark as before for the night, and the ear-penetrating sounds had stopped at once.

'What are _you_ talking about…? I didn't say I was leaving…'

'Well, she wants you to!'

'Huh?' Yoshiki turned to where Satoshi was pointing as his vision cleared.

The cloaked figure in red.

'Sh-She's here! We have to get into firing positions!'

'… All right.'

He examined the figure. It was on the other side of the pathway, where the bridge appeared to stop and turn back into the normal school gravel. Yoshiki cocked his handgun again, and slowly raised it so he peered over it. 'Here's to you, _Akuma_…' he hissed.

_Bang. Pfff…_

'Huh? Kishinuma-san, you shot her, right?'

'I-… I did. Let me try…' Aiming upright, he fired again.

_Bang. Pfff…_

'Those bullets aren't turning to duds, are they?'

'I don't know, Satoshi. Though…'

Yoshiki turned to Ayumi, who was at a standstill.

'…' He frowned. 'Shinozaki?'

There was no reply. Akuma, despite the bullets thrown at her, had no reply either.

'Satoshi, cover me.' He patted Satoshi as he traversed to the other edge of the bridge. 'Shinozaki?'

Still not a reply to be heard.

From the distance and the angle, Yoshiki couldn't tell her facial expression, but when he did…

'A… A… Aaa…'

'Shinozaki?!'

Yoshiki recoiled in terror. Ayumi had went pale, her mouth was agape, and her eyes were open wide.

'Aaaa… Aaaall…'

'Shinozaki-?! What happened…?!'

Yoshiki began to shudder and tremble. The look on Ayumi's face… the thought of the coldness of her skin and heart…

… As his memories came back, he knew he was terrified about seeing her like this because he always, always lov—

'Aaaaall… for… nothing…' Ayumi spluttered. 'Your… effort… nothing… Sachi… will reign… and be free…'

But he had to ignore his memories and emotions. For now, it was saving Ayumi and backing up the group. Yoshiki knew from that day he was going to be supportive to his colleagues.

Especially Ayumi.

'Snap out of it, Shinozaki-!' Yoshiki yelled over the sudden sound of rain and the sound of a familiar song blaring out from the assembly hall. Yoshiki crouched in front of Ayumi, stance just matching her height, and grasped her shoulders together. 'Look at me. Look at me, Shinozaki. Like you, I'm human. You may think of me lower than that, but…' He turned away for a moment. 'But…' Looking back, there was the most determined aura inside of Yoshiki's drifting soul. 'We can do this together!'

In Ayumi's ears, there was silence. Silence because the pair looked into each other's eyes, mesmerised of the glory of being a human – or a former living being – and because Yoshiki began to glimpse feeling returning to Ayumi's eyes, mouth, and her limbs.

'K-Kishi… No… Yoshiki…'

Yoshiki's breath was caught in his throat at the sound of his name being uttered by those lips…

'I-I…'

Her face was slowly brought closer. As Yoshiki stared in amazement, his somehow-pumping heart became enlightened as he saw the Ayumi he always knew…

She wrapped her arms round his neck in a tight hug. Tears flowed carelessly - freely from her eyes. They mixed with the tears of the clouds and departed on the river of the life cycle.

'Thank you…'

Yoshiki didn't need to say a word. Slowly, he returned the sentiment and gently placed a hand on her back—

'Shinozaki-san! Kishinuma-san! I can't keep it up! The shots are losing effect!'

Ayumi pulling back had knocked Yoshiki's inviting hand away, but he was still happy to see that glimmer in her eyes. 'I owe you one.'

That glimmer was replaced with fierce determination, and Ayumi ran and slid on the ground to the other edge, passing Satoshi a clip on the way, and leapt off the small bridge pathway. 'I've got a plan!' was all Yoshiki heard before the rain consumed her presence.

'A plan…?' Yoshiki shook his head, smiling to himself. 'Alright. Satoshi, this is it.' He straightened up and patted Satoshi again, standing side-by-side and firing.

_Bang! Pfff…_

…

_Bang! Pfff…_

'I see what's going on!' Satoshi called out confidently over _Pandora no Yoru_. 'The bullets are going right through her! That's never happened before!'

'Huh…' Yoshiki loaded in another ammunition magazine. 'And… what's with that?'

Akuma was approaching at an even deadlier speed. She was taking slow, careful steps across the bridge, like that of an intricately programmed android from science fiction with the devil's attire. Satoshi and Yoshiki started to retreat. The red cloak was soaking in the blood of the sky, and what appeared to be a hood on the figure's head slowly began to drift off, revealing more of the girl in red's facial appearance.

'What's with that is… she has certain _skills_! This is just like those 'MMORPGs' Morishige-san kept telling me to play with him!'

'Morishige plays those games?'

'A-Anyway, never mind that! I'm telling you she's like some sort of robot!'

'A robot?'

'I'm not sure! Maybe it's some sort of spiritual power that _assigns her those skills when she likes_!'

'Is she even hostile? She's just playing with us, right?' Doubtful of his own words, Yoshiki remembered Ayumi's possession. He shook the memory away with his head.

'Of course she's hostile!' Satoshi called back. One doubt was clarified. 'Yes, she is playing with us!'

Yoshiki looked straight ahead, ignoring the red girl in sight. He glimpsed little blue wisps floating towards the building. However, when he squinted through the rain a little more carefully, he could see the wisps embodied by the spirits' walking bodies, their clothes this time seeming transparent like the colour of their skin.

* * *

'_Hitokenonai yuuyami ga se…mareba... akaku kage o someru... machi nami ni...'_

Mayu struck the guitar with a strong force. _Maybe I'm not the best for this song…_

The hall was flooding still with the lingering spirits. Hysteric Birthday was motivated by their zombie-like presence, seeing as it was going to help Corpse Party further.

Mayu struck the guitar with a strong force.

'_Mayowanaide… asu wa mo sugu soba niiii... Pandora no yooooooruuuuuuuuu!'_

After she cleared the line, Yuka turned from the microphone perched on her piano and quietly cleared her throat. _I hope onii-chan is listening… I sang that line all for you, onii-chan!_ She cleared her throat softly a second time, and turned back to the microphone. Mayu glanced at her during her vocals and guitar play and grew slightly worried. Yuka waved at her in affirmation. Mayu winked back, and struck the guitar with a strong force and began to sing…

* * *

'_Pandora no yoooooooruuuuuuuu!'_

'I don't hear Yuka singing anywhere. Is she alright?' Satoshi glanced to the hall window.

Yoshiki shrugged. 'She's a small girl. Probably couldn't hear her over Suzumoto.'

Satoshi emptied his clip with a final shot on the ground in front of him. 'That's it. She's too close. Let's retreat to base.' He threw the gun at Akuma. The gun disappeared through her and clattered on the ground, hopeless.

Yoshiki broke into a run alongside Satoshi, heading towards the courtyard. 'Did Shinozaki mention any plan to you, Satoshi?' Yoshiki asked on the way.

'N-No, not at all!' he replied back over the loudness of the rain. 'Well… she mentioned a countermeasure, but she said she was going to improvise that one.'

'Improvise…'

As they closed the doors behind them, Yoshiki heard an ubiquitous voice.

'_Attention students!'_

'Wh-Who's on that?!' Satoshi yelled in shock.

'It sounds like…'

'_This is Shinozaki Ayumi, your favourite class representative, and she is armed with a megaphone! You have no choice but to surrender!'_ The voice paused for a second, and continued. '… _Just testing the megaphone. No need to be alarmed, Kisaragi Academy students.'_

'Oh, phew,' breathed Satoshi, still recovering his breath from the run.

'_Ah, and I'm testing my voice. How do I sound?'_

'_F-Fantastic, Shinozaki-san-!'_

'_Not now, Morishige-kun. And now the grand finale…'_

Satoshi breathed in excitement. 'Shinozaki-san is really turning it up now! Don't you think, Kishinuma-san?'

Yoshiki stood straight with a relieved smile. 'Damn right you are.'

There were a few more noises heard from the school's speakers, and the voice started off again.

'_Addressing Shinozaki Sachiko! Addressing Shinozaki Sachiko!'_ In a lower tone, '_I did my research'_ could be heard. '_You, the girl in red! Shinozaki Sachiko!'_

A painful pause. '_You are looking for someone, are you not? I'll have you know, I, Ayumi, the class representative, has established all of her whereabouts!'_ Another pause. Satoshi, curious what was going on, re-opened the door. '_If you want to know where she is…'_ Satoshi disappeared into the courtyard, and Yoshiki followed silently.

The rain had slowly come to a stop. '… _Then you stop advancing! Turn around and leave our students in peace for another night!'_ Yoshiki was surprised to see Ayumi's head along with the megaphone dangling out of the high classroom window. She didn't have a very confident look on her face, making him think the megaphone simply made everything she was saying dramatic. '_Leave, Shinozaki Sachiko! In the name of… of…'_ Yoshiki grew worried about Ayumi's state. '_Of… Shinozaki Yoshie!... and the Corpse Party, of course, but that's a different matter…'_

'Shinozaki Yoshie?' Yoshiki thought aloud. Satoshi looked just as clueless as he shrugged his shoulders.

As the rain came to a complete halt, Yoshiki squinted towards the cafeteria area. His heart leapt to see the girl in red slowly walking away. 'Sh-She did it…!' Yoshiki gasped. 'Shinozaki…'

Simultaneously, the vent to the side of the building was opened from the interior. There was a whirring sound atop the conclusion of _Pandora no Yoru_, and pieces of small rectangular paper began to flit into the air and drift onto the damp ground. The pair of boys, in a hurry, darted across the courtyard and towards the vent, snatching one ticket each for themselves. Eventually, more and more of the Corpse Party gathered near the vent. The moonlight shone brightly, almost as though this was a genuinely happy day. However, it was not, for it was one of the first days that Yoshiki had to triumph in his time of post-mortem. Perhaps one of the many.

* * *

Yoshiki slowly sipped from his miso soup bowl.

'So you decided to get miso soup, huh, Kishinuma-san?'

He looked up from his bowl. 'Satoshi, you can call me Yoshiki, you know.'

'Huh?'

'Don't you remember? When we were alive, we were… er…' He contemplated. '… great pals.'

Satoshi looked puzzled. 'You sounded hesitant there.'

'Nah, I'm kidding. We were buddies, Satoshi. Let's try treating each other like that again. All right?'

'Sure.' Satoshi slowly bit a pink dumpling on a stick, staring at the miso soup opposite him.

'Did you see my performance out there?' Mayu asked boisterously, puffing out her chest. 'Pandora no yooooruuuuuuu!'

'You know that it's Yuka and I who sing that, Suzumoto-chan,' Ayumi informed her.

'Ehh?' Mayu looked at the younger Mochida. 'Really, Yuka-chan?'

'Y-Yes. Sometime when Ayumi-san visited the house, we both agreed to make a band. It was called Ar—'

'S-Something like that happened, yes! Now, um…' Ayumi closed her eyes. 'For our future days at Kisaragi Academy, I have something that will prove to be helpful to the progress of Corpse Party.'

'What would that be, Ayumi-chan?'

'Well, Suzumoto-chan…' Ayumi took something out of her uniform pocket and winked. 'A charm!'

_To be continued…_


End file.
